Undercover IKEA Receipt Checker Detained Me, Manager Threatened Jail

Andrew ran into an IKEA receipt checker who seemed to have used Paul Blart: Mall Cop as a training video. The un-uniformed shopping cop demanded to see his receipt, threatened his arrest if he didn’t comply and made him sweat out the shakedown as he took an unreasonable amount of time.

He writes:

I was shopping at the [redacted] IKEA today and after going through the self check out a man not in any uniform (Ikea or otherwise) asked to see my receipt. What he said was ” I need to see your receipt.”

I complied and after about a minute I said, “you have another 10 seconds and then I am leaving.” He replied with “you will let me finish.” I demanded my receipt and he told me that “if you do not let me check you could be arrested”. Needless to say I became irate and demanded both my receipt and a manager. He refused to give me the receipt and then pointed to a phone on the cashier podium and said “you can call the manager yourself.”

We got into a yelling argument all the while he refused to give me the receipt. Finally an employee called a manager.

When the manager came, he had no name tag, refused his own name and told me “you have to let us check, if not you will go to jail.”

I demanded his name and the name of the “security” person, both refused.

Finally after several minutes I was given my receipt. This can not be normal for Ikea to operate this way and detain people.

A reminder: Unless a store requires you to sign to a receipt-checking agreement under a membership or you’re under a reasonable suspicion of shoplifting, you don’t have to submit to store security forces on receipt-scanning power trips.

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Wow. I had no idea Ikea had receipt checkers, security guards, or even greeters. I’ve never had anyone check my receipt at Ikea. The OP certainly didn’t help his own situation much, though. He might have been impatient, but one minute to check a receipt (he doesn’t say how much stuff he bought) isn’t unreasonable. Getting irate with people is generally a bad idea.

When I run into this situation, I just smile very politely at the receipt checker and say “Oh, no thank you!” as if they offered to do me a favor and I am declining. They usually just smile back and nod, and by the time they figure out what happened, I’m through the door and they don’t feel comfortable chasing me down.

I learned this trick from my sister, who uses it when people on the street stop her and say “Spare change?”

yeah, i can buy an entire cart full at sams or bjs [i have both] and the receipt checker is usually done with me in under 15 seconds. even tiger direct doesn’t take a minute for a whole bag full of fiddly little electronics and cables

I guess in this situation I would wonder exactly how the OP knew it was an ikea security guard and manager. Neither was in any sort of uniform, or had a name tag, or any other ikea identifying apparel on. How do we know this wasn’t some jackass off the street who came in to make ikea look bad?

To me it isnt a matter of time.. but more of something related to how the OP described it.. “a man not in any uniform (Ikea or otherwise) asked to see my receipt”.

Someone who walks up to me in a store and is not identifiable as an employee of that store is not going to get a willing response from me to let him look at my receipt. In fact, depending on mood, he might get a rather rude response.

That aside, if I get threatened with being arrested over not wanting to show my receipt, I will prolly head to customer service and return everything when the encounter is done.. if they cant treat me with the respect I feel is reasonable, they dont want me as a customer and I will help sever that relationship.

At that point, you’d have to decide whether it was more important to comply or you’d rather have them scan your ID through their computer to return an item. Apparently if you return or exchange you’re required to have your ID scanned. Really pissed me off when I had to exchange a single piece of a desk we purchased there a couple weeks ago because they hadn’t drilled it correctly; of course, it was one of the three final pieces that were needed to put the entire thing together. I guess the only good thing is that it helped me remember why I freaking can’t stand shopping there.

I’ve never been reciept checked at Ikea. That’s pretty strange, they’re usually very hands off and friendly at Ikea. Which is why I like to go there, if I need something I will come find you, you’re all wearing blue or yellow, please leave me alone otherwise.

The person was hassled by someone that had no apparent authority. The so-called manager also didn’t seem to have any obvious indication of standing either. If it was me, I would be concerned that the fellow was some sort of criminal.

No, that’s no fun. What he should have done was tear it up into tiny pieces and tell Ikea to put it together themselves. And to make it more true-to-life, put the pieces in different aisles all throughout the store so they can’t find any of them.

This sounds like the Redhook Ikea in Brooklyn. They are CRAZY about checking receipts. What is most frustrating is that there are usually police officers standing right behind them adding menace to their receipt checking demands. It is the only place I ever think twice about refusing to show my receipt.

This is my IKEA too, and I find it very distasteful (and out of character for IKEA). I would probably ignore the receipt checkers here as I do anywhere else, but there is usually an impenetrable wall of them blocking the exit. I guess it’s a good thing, too, because one time the cashier failed to scan one of my smaller items, and if I had tried to bypass the checkers I would’ve been in for a major headache…

Yes. if someone asked me for my receipt while I finished up self-checkout (where things are easily stolen) and I had unbagged merhcandise, I would hand it to him/her.
I would assume they would be security even if they are not in uniform.
I am pretty sure the chance of random people standing at the end of self-checkout lanes asking for your receipt are criminals. Otherwise they would ask me in the parking lot or ask me for my wallet instead.

I do not care for conflict or for spending anymore time in a store than I have to.
If that’s being a “sheep”, then that’s fine.

“I would assume they would be security even if they are not in uniform.”

And when they ask for your bags/merchandise to “check against the receipt”, and you probably comply, right?

…

At which point, THEY WALK OUT THE DOOR WITH THE BAGS. And what are YOU going to do about it? They have the merchandise _AND_ the receipt – you have no immediate proof that any of it is YOURS. (Especially if you paid with cash!)

You do realize that some customer-copy receipts print out with credit card information under the payment section, right? Most I’ve seen are the card brand (visa/master/amex) plus the last four digits and expiration date. But I HAVE spotted one or two businesses whose receipts print out with the FULL credit card number. Those are getting rarer because people are pretty careless with their receipts and companies don’t want liability–but I’ve seen some personally.

It’s stupid to hand your receipt over to *anyone* who asks for it. Even if it doesn’t have any of your credit information on it, it could still be considered personal information. A total stranger who has *no visible signs of working at the establishment* has no right to demand your personal information.

That’s actually a violation of the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. Can’t print full credit card number on receipts anymore (imprints and handwritten receipts are exempted, I believe).

Yes, damn them for standing up for their rights. Those bastards, how dare they refuse to do something they are under no moral or legal obligation to do. And God bless those receipt checks who are following legal guidelines that both allow and mandate their efforts.

I do, I challenge receipt checkers all the time. Civil rights erode when no one practices them. If none of us demand that the police show a warrant before coming in the house pretty soon warrants are no longer seen as necessary. If none us politely say, ‘No, I’m under no legal obligation to show you my receipt, I’m leaving now’ then soon enough receipt checks will be legal.

“Unless a store requires you to sign to a receipt-checking agreement under a membership or you’re under a reasonable suspicion of shoplifting, you don’t have to submit to store security forces on receipt-scanning power trips.”

Fuck them. I’d have told him “No thanks and kept walking to begin with”. And if this guy wanted to give the asshole 10 seconds, that’s his business. If the Checker wanted to take more, I’d have grabbed the receipt back and walked out.

If they started anything – I’d have returned everything. That they have a problem with employee shrinkage and underrings isn’t my problem.

Seriously, why would IKEA expect anyone to give their receipt to an unmarked “officer.” If you can’t show me at least a minimum of evidence that you are an official of IKEA, fuck you and get away from me.

That being said, why did the OP even give it to him? I suppose just the shock and confusion might compel someone to hand over the receipt, but I’d hope common sense would kick in.

That was my first thought as well. I don’t mind flashing my receipt for 1 second at the dude in the Target vest if I’m strolling out with a bag of toothpaste and soap, but if some guy in plainclothes came up to me as I was struggling with furniture and demanded a receipt, he’d get a firm, but very polite, “Get the fuck out of my way.”

Honestly, I wouldn’t shop there. I avoid Walmart (for the receipt checking and the fact they are ruining America) for this reason. If you want to treat me like a criminal, I’ll shop elsewhere. Usually online. Same goes for any company that treats a customer like a criminal, be it DRM in software, receipt checking…I simply don’t give them my business.

I’m sure the guy was flustered with with happened, but it would have been great to turn around and take the item back for a full refund in front of the manager.

One of my friends worked at Walmart, and said the store policy where he worked was to ask to see receipts on anything not in a bag during daylight hours. I used to not get bags if I could carry the item/s in hand out of the store, and got accosted a lot. When I got less ecoconscious, they stopped messing with me.

One day I set off the security alarm carrying out a ratchet set. The lady at the door confronted me, and since I had actually set off the alarm I didn’t just keep walking. She said people have a habit of hiding stuff in the boxes and walking out with them after buying the tools. I showed her the inside of the toolbox, and started to leave. She got in front of me with a clipboard and asked for my name. She said she wouldn’t let me leave if I didn’t give it, and I just left.

I’ve heard that it can be easier to get out of the store with a large big-ticket item because everyone assumes you’ve been through checkout already. I would not know this from personal experience, I’ve never shoplifted so much as candy. (I think I might be a goody-goody-two-shoes)

I shoplifted one piece of candy when I was 4 years old. In my defense, I didn’t realize I was stealing, at the time. Once it was explained to me, I actually felt worse from the reaction of my conscience than the punishment from my mother. I haven’t stolen anything in the 31 years since, and don’t plan to.

And to everyone who says “sue for WHAT!?”, I say sue for “all of the above” just to be a nuisance. Their corporate lawyers cost $1,000/hr and if receipt-checking companies get washed away in hundreds of lawsuits they will quickly change their tune.

Here’s a fun little game. Whenever you start to write “sue them”, write “sue them for” instead. If you cannot finish the sentence beginning with “Sue them for” with anything but “BEING TOTAL LOSERZ!!!!11″ then no, there won’t be a lawsuit.

Detained? He wasn’t restrained at any point, and freely gave his receipt to the checker. I’m not really sure what his recourse is on wanting it back as soon as he asks for it. (Something I never would have done – some random dude comes up to me and asks for something, I assume it’s a panhandler and ignore. Receipt checkers can go to hell.)

False police report: They didn’t file a thing, and “shitty understanding of the law” doesn’t make someone eligible for a false police report charge.

Defamation? To whom, and what negative attribute did this guard ascribe to OP?

“Threatening to commit a crime” – huh? I can sue if someone says they might commit a crime that would theoretically affect me? As far as I’ve ever heard of, this would only be true if they threatened bodily harm.

Refusing to return his receipt, which compelled him to stay, may be sufficient “detainment” in some states. I recall a case where a store wouldn’t return a woman’s purse and was held to have “detained her” because a reasonable person wouldn’t leave without it. The receipt may be a bit of stretch of that example, but it’s not *totally* out in left field.

Defamation could lie due to the fact that the guard implicitly accused him of stealing. It would probably come down to precisely what was said, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that there could be a prima facie case of defamation.

They have a job to do… people tend to fly out the door with the smaller items… most of the time it’s some guy with the highlighter, talking to his buddy – grabbing my reciept, marking it, and handing it back…

An incident at Sam’s Club, however… was the only time I had a “theft check” issue.. and that did not involve receipt checking….

I was at Sam’s Club with the bf (at the time) when I lived in Chicago….we’d go shopping with his mother who had a business account there… we’d often split up and grab things then meet up and toss them into the cart.

One guy followed me around the store because I had grabbed some New Release DVDs and walked them across the store to where the cart was…. and put them in, after, I met up with my bf to help him with groceries. The clerk stopped me and said, “where are those DVDs you just had?”
I told him I put them in the cart….
“And where is this cart?”
The bf says, “with my mother….?”
After a few minutes of interrogation…. I said, “if you can see me grab DVDs, then you would have seen me put them in the cart….”

Now – to put things into perspective…he was staring at my chest the entire time… but not in the usual gawking manner (prior to my reduction surgery, I was a 40 F bra size) … then said, “they’re in your shirt…. lift your shirt….”

Oh hell fucking no…

I marched my ass to the store manager’s office and flipped the hell out… at that point, the bf’s mom had caught up to us and I briefed her on what was going on – we even pointed out the DVDs in the cart…. we got an apology letter in the mail. This was 2003, haven’t been at Sam’s Club since… and I also avoid the Wal-Mart giant.

The Consumerist redacted the specific IKEA store because they didn’t or couldn’t contact the manager to get his side of the story. If the manager had flatly refused an interview by Phil or someone else from the Consumerist, or they were actively blocked from interviewing anyone in IKEA about this incident, then they would be allowed to disclose the specific IKEA store, but not before a reasonable effort was expended to find out what IKEA’s position is on this incident. This is from journalism 101.

If the “employees” are not willing to divulge their names, chances are that they know that they are trying to pull something that will not stand up to company policy. Ikea likely requires some kind of uniform.

The problem is improper training. The stores stress to these receipt checkers the importance of their jobs and tell them store policy is the ultimate guide as to what is allowed and what isn’t. They aren’t educated on the relevant law, they aren’t educated on civil liberties, they are only trained to be bullies.

Exactly. The proper response to an assault (placing hands on your person) is to shake them off, or gently knock them aside. The level of offense doesn’t warrant a direct attack or shove in self-defense, but it does warrant something a little stronger than words, though words should also be involved (such as a demand to keep his hands off you).

Cell phones have cameras. Take as many pictures as you can. If you have someone with you, have them take video. Nothing will get you more action than showing their faces and the fact that they were not dressed/IDed and that they refused.

In some states it is illegal to video record other people in public without prior consent. Some states allow it if no audio is recorded. Some states have enforced this law with regard to police officers only.

“No you can’t touch it — it’s a collectible. I hang them over my Franklin Mint “Boys of Nascar” collector plates. And keep that marker away unless you want a ‘destruction of private property’ complaint.”

Jeez, Consumerist is inundated with these posts, isn’t it?
Also, if a person were shoplifting, would they really put an item in their cart and stroll out of the store with it? Wouldn’t they try to conceal it? I guess I don’t really understand the point of receipt checking.

And, unless the receipt checker :
a) counts the number of items on the receipt
b) counts the number of items in the cart/bag/bags
and
c) compares the two
, that kind of scam will never be caught. Since most receipt checks take, literally, a few seconds, the checker doesn’t have time to do those three steps.

And, of course, simply comparing the number of items will never catch a cashier who rings up the right number of the WRONG items. For that, the checker would need to compare the UPC from each and every item on the receipt to each and every box. Impractical. like the TSA, it’s security theater, there to look good, but not really do anything.

Actually yes, it used to happen all the time when I worked security. Some people conceal, some people mix things in with legitimate purchases, others bring in their own bags from previous purchases and fill them up in the store. There are several variations of these, and other, themes.

It’s really unacceptable that they refused to identify themselves. They probably figured you were going to complain and it would cause them trouble.

The closest my IKEA comes to a receipt check is sometimes asking to show that you have a receipt when leaving the self-check out area. They don’t even do that very often. They seem to have self-check well-monitored. No one’s ever asked to check a receipt against my purchases.

Can you tell me the “rules of shopping at Ikea”? What are the “rules for shopping at Sears”? Long John Silvers? As far as I know, the rule is: I give them money, they give me the item, and I leave. I didn’t sign anything upon walking in that I would follow rules of shopping.

Why do people (like you) feel as though people who stand up for their rights are wrong? I don’t have to follow rules that aren’t legal. If you don’t mind being treated like a criminal after paying your hard earned money then go ahead. I choose to not accept that type of behavior.

They opened a store in America, they follow America’s rules. If you think that illegal detainment by a private police force is a molehill you need to re-read the Bill of Rights and the Federalist papers.

You go into their country to live, you follow their rules. You obey the laws and you deal with it. Case closed.

Store policies don’t negate US, state or city laws. Among which is a right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures. Having to prove to someone that you are not a thief isn’t reasonable.

OK, just to be clear here: Can I be legally detained by anyone other than the police? I worked in retail for years and it was set in stone that you never, ever touched a customer. You could follow them to their car and point them out to the cops if you thought they were shoplifting.

Where I worked “Reasonable” was however long it took for the cops to arrive. We were also required to notify the police the moment we pulled someone into our office. If we didn’t call the police right away we would have been in serious trouble.

The reasonable suspicion part is actually well defined. I think there are something like 13 criteria that must be fulfilled for a shoplifting conviction to be held up in court but basically if they did not see you from the moment you picked up the item to the moment you walked out of the door they have no right to detain you.

The only way you can be detained by a shopkeeper is while waiting for the police if they for sure saw you steal something or have a strong suspicion you did. Those criteria are well-defined by court. As I said in another post under here they basically had to see you pick up the item and walk out of the door with it without ever losing sight of you (as you could have put the item down during the time they didn’t see you). I think those door alarms have been permitted as suspicion to investigate/detain you but I can’t remember.

Refusing a receipt check is not reason enough for suspicion. There are a lot of good Consumerist posts on this issue, I suggest you go read them.

The actual answer to that varies by state. There’s differences, but in general:

Yes, a store employee can physically detain a customer. But they have to meet certain requirements first. The exact requirements vary, as I already noted, from state to state, but the general requirement is that they must have a Reasonable Suspicion that a theft is in progress. Reasonable Suspicion is a weaker requirement than the Probable Cause standard police operate on for arrests and searches.

In order to have Reasonable Suspicion, a store employee MUST have observed, either in person or via camera, the customer take an item and either conceal it on their person (pocket, bag, under a shirt, etc) and/or attempt to leave the store without paying for it. Visual surveillance MUST be maintained from the moment the item is taken until the moment the person either conceals it or attempts to leave without paying, if contact is broken for even a second, there can be no Reasonable Suspicion. In other words, if the detention and possible search isn’t just confirmation of other concrete, court-admissible evidence, then the employee probably lacks Reasonable Suspicion.

In some states, simply concealing the item in question is positive proof of intent to steal, and the crime is committed right then and there. In others, the crime is not committed until the thief attempts to leave with the item. The habit some people have of not bothering with a cart or basket, and just pocketing an item (or sticking it in their purse) until they get to a register to pay for it is a VERY BAD HABIT in states where simple concealment is enough to prove shoplifting.

If the store has Reasonable Suspicion, they absolutely can legally detain you. Whether or not they can search you after detaining you differs from state to state. In any event, they cannot detain you for longer than it takes to call the police and have an officer arrive to take custody. The practice many stores have of demanding an on-the-spot payment or they’ll call the police and have you arrested is illegal (felony extortion) in all fifty states. Some states allow a store to administer an on-the-spot fine, paying the fine amounts to an out-of-court settlement on a potential lawsuit (those states allow the store to sue for multiples of the shoplifted value as damages), but the fine can never be in place of an arrest or criminal charges, and paying such an out-of-court settlement does not make you safe from being arrested or getting a criminal record.

But here’s the key point in all of this: The limited right to detain a store has amounts to a Citizen’s Arrest. Detaining someone without cause (Reasonable Suspicion) is a felony. If they physically restrain you in the course of detaining you, that’s at least one misdemeanor as well. Simply blocking your path can be menacing or assault, depending on the state, which are also crimes. The store employee can, in court, make a plea that works very much like a Self-Defense plea against a Battery charge, assuming they actually had Reasonable Suspicion and were correct about the theft, or had Reasonable Suspicion and just (somehow) made an honest mistake. If neither of those was the case, and they simply thought you looked shifty, or picked you at random, you might be entitled to make a Citizen’s Arrest of the store employee(s)!

Note that refusal to permit a bag search, or show a receipt, can NEVER create Reasonable Suspicion.

I applaud this idea. Especially if it’s something you know you won’t return. The only reason I ever keep my receipts is for items I know I might return (e.g. if I go to Lowes sometimes I buy too much stuff just to avoid having to make a mid-repair trip back to the store).

The only person I’ve ever seen use the word “sheeple” in public was 300 pounds, didn’t shave his neck or cut his hair, and smelled worse than he looked. I assume he said it offline because he didn’t have shame.

Interestingly; I was at Fry’s and asked about the receipt check. The receipt checker looked at me with a dumb deer in the headlights expression; but the manager type who happened to be at the door said to me, “The checkers make too many mistakes, we don’t trust them to not fÂµÈ¼Â§ up.” Whoa, Guido; I thought to my self, that was a bold way to put it.

I must confess to being (Quite) a bit of a sociopath,so my response upon hearing the word jail most likely would have been to call his bluff while inserting receipt in pocket. I probably would have enjoyed the ensuing donnybrook. But, then, most people won’t make the time to stand up for their rights. No uniform or ID? You’re all mine, sucker. :)
Oh, and return everything for a full refund when the smoke had cleared and the shouting and the tumult had died.

The biggest issue I see here is that this person was unidentified and not in uniform. Being programmed by Costco, I don’t generally balk at receipt checkers, *IF* they are clearly an employee of the store. If the unidentified person didn’t feel like showing me his ID, I’d tell him that he could call a manager or cashier over to check the receipt, but I wouldn’t give my merchandise or receipt to some random anonymous person just because they happen to be in or near the store.

I still have yet to see the big deal about reciept checks, and I’m sorry but I think anyone who gets offended by them is an idiot. These clerks don’t know you from Adam & for all they know, you COULD be a thief. Excuse them for doing their JOBS and excuse the store for protecting their merchandise. Big stores like this(and any other stores that don’t use marked bags) are targets for thieves, people can load up a cartload of stuff & pretend they came from the checkouts, smiling innocently at the door greeter as they walk out the doors.

And apparently the OP forgot that that reciept checker was a human being too as he was being rude to him. I know that in my job, if someone acts shitty to me(like the OP was to the employee), I’m gonna be just as shitty right back. Trust me, OP, that employee hates his job & hates dealing with dicks like you all day long. I promise he didn’t wanna look at your ugly mug any longer than he had to & wasn’t detaining your on purpose. You could’ve been polite & patient about it but you chose to be an asshole, so he was an asshole back to you. You deserved it.

“you have another 10 seconds and then I am leaving.” What a fucking dick you are. I’m sorry nothing worse happened to your rude ass.

Did you RTFA? This was not Sue the clearly-identified employee making a polite request, this was some random guy with no nametag who wouldn’t identify himself and had no outward indication that he was an employee.

“I know that in my job, if someone acts shitty to me(like the OP was to the employee), I’m gonna be just as shitty right back. “

You must be a GREAT employee; I know I love going into stores where employees can’t manage to act professional even in the face of a difficult/rude customer. I certainly hope you don’t actually work in customer service. If you do, perhaps you should find a different profession if you can’t manage to act like a professional.

Why do you feel that a store has greater rights to their property than you do to yours, or I do to mine? For that matter, why do you feel that a store has greater rights to your property than you do? Legally speaking, a store employee has as much right to ask to see a receipt as to ask anything else, but the employee cannot force compliance. A customer has just as much right to ask an employee to prove he owns the shoes he’s wearing.

As for politeness, there’s few things that are more rude than publicly accusing someone of being a thief, no matter how you dress up the accusation, or claim that you accuse everybody of being a thief. In fact, if you accuse everyone (usually falsely) of being a thief, that males it worse, not better. Properly, respect is given at a default level, which is then adjusted to match that which is returned. A store employee is paid to be polite and professional no matter what, but no one is paying a customer to do so. If an employee is so rude, even under their bosses orders, to accuse a customer of being a thief, then the customer is perfectly justified in being rude back. That the OP was not rude until the receipt check became unreasonable is a commendation of the OP, not a condemnation. The receipt checker was an asshole first, and without any provocation on the part of the customer at all. When the customer did act a bit rude, it was to a far lesser degree and with far greater cause, than when the receipt checker was rude first.

Why is it unacceptable to be rude to someone who is rude first? Why is it okay to treat every customer poorly, and not okay for the customers to resent it? Why is it perfectly alright to you for a store to violate laws, but you expect customers to obey them?

Me, personally, if they want to check my receipt, fine. I don’t have anything to hide. If you’re of a sort to not feel it within their rights to check your receipt, that’s fine, too. The law is actually pretty gray here. In most states the law says the store (or merchant) has the right to prevent the consequences of theft, but doesn’t state how or what, or what is beyond reasonable.

In this case, both “employees” of the store were out of line and unreasonable. Had it been me, I probably would have smiled, whipped out my cell, and called 911 and reported two men posing as police officers who were trying to detain me, refusing to ID themselves, and could I please get as many uniformed, actual police officers as they could send? Then I’d have sat back and watched the fireworks as both “guard” and “manager” were arrested.

How, you may ask, can I do this? Neither one said they were the police.

Guess what? In most states, they don’t have to do to be guilty of impersonation of a police officer. The law in most states is written as such: “An offense occurs when a person who is not a sworn law enforcement officer, who, with the intent to make a reasonable person believe he has authority not granted to him, either states that he is a police officer when he is not, OR (and here is the kicker, folks) by HIS ACTIONS OR WORDS leads a reasonable person to assume he has police authority (“You’re going to jail”) when he in fact does not.

I wouldn’t have let some stranger with no ID check my receipt. I am not the type to refuse receipt checking, but an un-uniformed person with no name tag? No way. I’d tell them to call the cops as I was walking out. If they tried to detain me, I’d sue the hell out of them.

This happened to me at the Pittsburgh IKEA that I drove 2 and 1/2 hours to get to. I bought bought $1200 worth of heavy PAX bookcases, glass doors for the bookcases, mirrors, and a BESTA BOA wardrobe with my 2 yr old daughter and my wheelchair bound mother in tow. I stacked two carts 4 feet high (~1.3 meters) entirely by myself, since not one employee offered to help.

An officious cashier rang me up, who insisted that I shift every item so that she could reach the UPC code. Then, when something rang up that she didn’t believe the price for, she insisted that I wait while she called the floor manager to verify the posted price.

After this ordeal, I shoved the two carts into the checkout area by the cafe (again, without help), and stopped an employee, with a name tag, who wore the polo shirt of the customer service desk (blue, versus the usual yellow), and told him I needed help putting my stuff into the car, as per the *enormous* sign by the customer service desk. He said I needed to go ask the customer service desk myself, whereupon I pointed to the two heavily loaded carts, my 2 yr old, and my wheelchair bound mother, and said, “Would you watch my daughter for me while I wheel these carts over there and ask them?” He said, “Never mind, I’ll have them send somebody out.”

After I maneuvered my mother, daughter, and 2 carts out to the parking lot, I moved my SUV to the loading area while my mom sat with my daughter in her lap and kept an eye on the carts. Still no employee.

Eventually, a young man in a yellow IKEA polo shirt came outside, and asked to see my receipt. At this point, I needed a breather, so I let him have it. He insisted on checking every piece – as though I’d have time to steal something between the cashier and the doors?! – and only then would he assist me in loading the car. Now that I know that I need not have given him the receipt, I think I would have made him wait while I rested my asthmatic lungs.

I guess I’m in the minority here, but I’m always amazed people put up such a fuss over this. They’re asking to look inside the shopping bag that they gave you at the stuff they just sold you. They’re not asking to search your person, your purse, your children, etc. Some of these merchants have horrible problems with shoplifting and it really does raise costs to everyone when it happens. I know Frys does this, but they usually have 2-3 people and if you cooperate, they send you through quickly. Costco, on the other hand, does let the line stack up and that’s where customers get irate, and for good reason. If you don’t like their policies, go elsewhere, or better yet, write a letter. Don’t waste your time shouting at a minimum wage worker who’s just doing his/her job. You’re just not accomplishing anything by doing this and you could get arrested or banned from the store.

The key line is “the stuff they just sold you.” As in, they don’t own it anymore. You do. They have as much right to inspect your bags, as you do to inspect the manager’s office. You can, of course, allow them to look at, handle, seize or steal anything of yours that you want to allow them to. It’s your property, you have those rights. But they don’t have the right to force you, and it’s not even slightly reasonable for them to ask. And it’s not even slightly reasonable for you to expect someone else to roll on their back to perceived authority just because you do.

They have no need to inspect your bags unless they believe you are a thief. Saying so politely does not negate any of these facts. Accusing someone publicly of being a thief, no matter how politely, is defamation. In some places, it’s even disturbing the peace.

“Unless a store requires you to sign to a receipt-checking agreement under a membership”

WRONG. In that case they have a right to terminate your membership. They do not gain the right to detain you or check your receipt just because you are a member.

Legally they can only detain you if they reasonably suspect your of shop lifting and refusing to show a receipt does not create reasonable suspicion. Please fix your post. As incorrectly stating the info may result in some manager at a costco somewhere incorrectly thinking he can detain people. When in reality all they can do is cancel your membership.

Obviously, whoever was this “security guard” or his “manager” was on an extreme power trip. As many have already suggested, I would’ve upon getting my receipt back took everything I bought back for a refund, then made a stink not only here, but on local “old” media (the TV station, newspaper, whatever.) Personally, my only encounters with receipt checkers happen when, for instance, I buy a TV from the back of the local Best Buy (yeah, here come the boos from all you BB haters, but Canadian BBs are not as subject to the ire of American ones) and at the main exit I’ll be asked to show the receipt. Perfectly acceptable, as I’m not walking from the checkout corral to the exit with this big-screen TV in my hands. Also sort-of acceptable is if the cashier didn’t rub the thing I was buying vigorously enough on that RFID-loss-prevention-thingy pad, thus setting off that alarm when I’m going out, yeah, I best behave and let them see that in fact I paid for it. Otherwise, get out of my way.

Simple. Make it impossible to get out of a non-emergency exit door without passing through a checkout lane. RFID tag all merchandise so that simply passing through a checkout lane with it registers it on that lane. And anyone who bulls through a checkout lane with registered items without paying is obviously a shoplifter, so there’s no need to check receipts or search bags.

You could even eliminate the cashier position entirely, if you build your self-check lane right.

Although, to be honest, it really isn’t my problem, because I do have civil, constitutional and statutory rights. Stores need a more compelling reason than “we didn’t feel like designing our store layout to minimize theft” to justify infringing them.

So either the stores come up with a design for their stores that is ineffiecient and unappealing for browsing, or they don’t try to stop shoplifting because you feel as though showing your reciept and letting someone glance in your bag violates your rights.

I find the “not my problem” answer, less of a way of defending peoples rights, and more of a lack of empathy.

If the person isn’t obviously an employee (and we won’t go into faking vest or whatever) I’d take them up on the offer to call the police. And yes by all means if you have your camera/video phone record away.

If some non-uniformed, anonymous person starts making demands of me, I won’t give them the time of day. IKEA opened a few stores out my way, but I haven’t shopped there partly because of these aggressive receipt checker stories. Manager threatening jail over a receipt check? That’s over the top, not to mention that a store manager doesn’t have that authority — only an LEO.

Make sure you EECB or write a certified letter to the heads of IKEA. That is seriously uncool; like others here, I have *never* been receipt checked. For you to be threatened with arrest … it’s unacceptable, and needs to be addressed. I am a big believer in second chances, but threatening someone with arrest like that? Fireable offense.

If you are asked for your receipt, and you refuse, and they refuse to accept your refusal and prevent you from leaving, then turn around go to customer service, pull out your receipt and return everything you just bought.

You can vote with your wallet, but you have to make sure your vote counts, don’t just walk out and not return to the store, make them pay right then and there.

Yes they have a right to prevent shoplifting, but that is their problem not yours.

I realize IKEA has some unique things that might not be available from other sources but I would have immediately returned everything I just purchased, take my refund, and walked out.

” To all merchants:

You failed to recognize me today. Iâ€™m not one of your buddies sitting on the couch and belching after a few beers. Iâ€™m not the brother in law you can abuse. I am not a guest. Iâ€™m the one who keeps the lights on. Itâ€™s my money that fills up your paycheck. Iâ€™m a customer. I deserve respect and a smiling face when I hand over my money. And you had better say, â€œthank youâ€, or I wonâ€™t be back.
– BB”

It should be pointed out that this is NOT a universal Ikea policy. Some stores do this intense checking. Some do not.

The Ikea in my area does not check receipts and does nothing to block the doors or do any of that other stuff. I took a friend to shop at our Ikea last weekend and our purchases weren’t questioned whatsoever.

It IS still disappointing to see all the human checkers replaced with the self-check lines. When this Ikea opened, they had a human at every register and the place was hopping. Now, it’s just two lines of self-check and one human supervising.

I guess this cuts payroll but it makes the place less comfy. Or something. I dunno.

When you submit to unwarranted searches which receipt checking is without prior acknowledgement that this is an accepted practice by a written agreement between yourself and the store you allow you civil rights to be violated.

Now why would you allow your civil rights to be violated? That is like saying go ahead and beat me I am just a black person. While it may be only 1 to 3 minutes it is an imposition that need not be tolerated.